Barbering
Libby Hanna
and Cathy Bickel
Barbering describes a nervous habit in which one gerbil chews the hair off the upper part of another gerbil's tail. Barbering rarely leads to actual injury; it is mainly a cosmetic problem.
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Stress or boredom are the usual culprits. Try additional stimulation in the form of chewables, toys and out-of-cage time. If this does not help, move your gerbils to a quieter place, limit handling by children, and eliminate any possible negative interactions with other pets, such as cats stalking your gerbils.
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Extreme barbering or barbering that appears on more than one gerbil in the tank, or occurring simultaneously in more than one tank, may be a sign of mites. Mites can be too small to be visible; you will need your vet to do a skin scrape and look under a microscope.